Ch. 6. Quantitative Research Designs

Chapter 6:
Quantitative Research Designs:

Recognizing the Overall Plan for a Study
Understanding Research:
A Consumer’s Guide
Edition 2
Vicki Plano Clark and John Creswell
© (2015, 2010) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

How do you identify the research design
in a quantitative study?
• Usually named in the Methods section
• May be under a sub-heading:
– Research Design
– Study Design
– Methodology
• May be named in the Abstract
• Includes references to literature that discusses this
design
• Explains why the particular design was selected
• If the design is not named, clues may be found in the
Methods section
Plano Clark & Creswell. Understanding Research: A Consumer's Guide, Second Edition. Chapter 6 - slide 2
© 2015, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
What characteristics distinguish the
different quantitative research designs?
There are two basic categories:
• Experimental research tests the effect of an
intervention by manipulating the conditions
experienced by participants
• Non-experimental research describes variables
without manipulating the conditions experienced by
participants
What is experimental quantitative
research?
• Used to determine whether an independent treatment
variable caused an effect in a dependent variable
• Conditions are carefully controlled to insure any
measured effect was the result of treatment, and not
some other confounding variable
• Conditions are manipulated and the dependent
outcome variable is measured to determine if an effect
occurred
• Also referred to as intervention research because
when conditions are manipulated, they are intervening
in participants’ lives in some way
What is non-experimental quantitative
research?
• Describes how variables are related to each other or
describes the trends for variables in a large population
• Measures variables of interest, but does not
manipulate the conditions experienced by participants
• Also referred to as descriptive or observational
research
• Carefully selects representative participants
• Makes strong claims that the results generalize to that
population
• Cannot conclude cause/effect relationship
What are the five common quantitative
research designs?
• True experiment design
• Quasi-experiment design
• Single-subject research design
• Correlational research design
• Survey research design
What is a true experiment research
design?
• Used to be certain a treatment causes an effect
• Sometimes called the “gold standard” for conducting
quantitative research
• Manipulates the conditions experienced by
participants
• Uses random assignment to the different levels of the
treatment variable
– Controls for confounding variables that might affect the
outcome
• Frequently used in medical research
How do you identify the characteristics of
a true experiment?
• Also called: True experiment, intervention trial, or
randomized control trial (RCT)
• Used when the research problem called for a test of
an intervention
• Participants randomly assigned to different conditions
• Intervention (or treatment) has different conditions for
each group of participants
• Statistical comparison of the groups in terms of the
outcome variables
• Strong claims about whether the treatment caused an
effect
What is a quasi-experiment research
design?
• Used to determine the effect of a treatment for intact
groups
• Cannot randomly assign individuals to the different
treatment groups
• Uses groups that exist naturally or are already formed
• Assigns existing groups to the different conditions, but
does not randomly assign individuals because groups
cannot be artificially created for the experiment
• Only able to provide moderate to weak conclusions
about the treatment causing a measured effect
a quasi-experiment?
• Also called: an experiment
• Used when the research problem called for a test of
an intervention for an intact groups of participants
• Manipulated the conditions experienced by the groups
• Statistically compared the groups in terms of the
outcome variables
• Often report measurement of additional control
variables that might influence the outcome
• Can only make moderate claims about whether the
treatment caused an effect
What is a single-subject research design?
• Uses single-subject designs when they want to impact

an individual
• Involves the study of single individuals
• Administration of an intervention
• Careful monitoring of the individuals’ behaviors before,
during, and after the intervention determine whether
the treatment affects the behavior
• The individual becomes his/her own “control” in a
single-subject experiment by the researcher collecting
many measurements of his/her behavior over time
single-subject research?
• Also called: n-of-1 research, applied behavior analysis,
or multiple baseline design
• Used when research problem called for an intervention
to change behavior that is a problem for an individual
• Established a baseline of behavior that manipulated
the conditions experienced by the individual
• Plotted the individual’s behavior over many points of
time and visually inspected the data for change
• Made strong claims about whether the treatment
caused a meaningful change in behavior
What is a correlational research design?
• Used to describe the relationships among variables
without manipulating what individuals are experiencing
• Indicates the extent to which the two variables are or
are not related or the extent that one can predict
another
• Usually studies a single group of individuals
• Does not attempt to control or manipulate variables
• Can conclude that two variables are related to each
other
• Cannot conclude cause and effect
correlational research?
• Also called: correlation, association, or prediction
• Used when the research problem called for describing
the relationship among variables that cannot readily be
manipulated
• Studied one group of participants
• Collected information for each variable
• Statistically analyzed the data to test for relationships
• Cannot correctly conclude that some variables cause
an effect in other variables
What is a survey research design?
• Used to describe trends in a population
• Administers a survey questionnaire to a smaller group
of people (called the sample) in order to identify trends
in attitudes, opinions, behaviors, or characteristics of a
larger group of people (called the population)
• Carefully selects people to study to ensure that they
are representative of a larger population that is of
interest to the researcher
• Able to make conclusions about trends in the
population as a whole based on the results from the
sample
a survey research design?
• Also called: descriptive research or population study
• Used a survey questionnaire to gather information
from the participants
– Note: questionnaires for gathering data in other designs are
often called a “survey”, so the word survey does not always
refer to a survey research design
• Used when the research problem called for describing
trends in the attitudes, opinions, or behaviors of a
large group
• Participants were randomly selected from a larger
population
How do you recognize the research
design in a quantitative research report?
• Look to see if the author named the design in the title or
abstract of the report
• Examine the purpose statement to see if it names or
suggests the study’s research design
• Read the beginning paragraphs of the Method section
and look for a statement that identifies the design
• Examine the procedures described within the Method and
Results sections
Characteristics of quantitative research
designs
Did the researcher What was the focus How were participants Most likely research
manipulate conditions? of data analysis? selected/assigned? design is…
Who did the

researcher study?
Random selection of
Describing trends Survey Research
participants
No One group
Relationships Conveniently
Correlational
among variables available individuals
One individual Inspecting graphs of

Single Subject
(or a few) individual data
Yes Random
True Experiment
assignment
Two or more groups Comparing groups
Assign intact groups
Quasi-experiment
to condition
How do you evaluate the research design
Indicators of Indicators of
Quality criteria
higher quality lower quality
The choice of  Design fits study’s  Mismatch among
the research intent study’s intent and
design is  A convincing research design
appropriate explanation for why the  Explanation for why
and justified research design was the research design
selected is provided was selected is
unconvincing
Good  Randomly assign  Procedures for
quantitative individuals to assigning or selecting
procedures are conditions or select participants to
used to select individuals to conditions are
and assign participate when inappropriate
participants possible
Quality criteria
Good data  Rigorous quantitative  Poor quantitative data
collection data collection collection procedures
procedures are procedures are used are used
used
Good data  Rigorous quantitative  Poor quantitative data
analysis data analysis analysis procedures
procedures are procedures are used are used
used
Good results  Reported results are  Reported results are
and appropriate and inappropriate or
conclusions complete incomplete
are reported  Claims made are  Inappropriate claims
appropriate for design are made
Quality criteria
The study  All elements of the  There are
used a study from problem to inconsistencies in how
rigorous purpose to methods to the study’s problem,
research results to conclusions purpose, methods,
design fit together in a logical, results, and
coherent way conclusions fit together
The use of the  Results and  Results and
quantitative conclusions provide a conclusions provide a
research rigorous explanation haphazard examination
design that fulfills the study’s of the study’s intent and
addressed the intent and answers the do not adequately
study’s study’s research answer the study’s
purpose questions research questions

Ch. 6. Quantitative Research Designs

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Ch. 6. Quantitative Research Designs

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Chapter 6:

Quantitative Research Designs:

Vicki Plano Clark and John Creswell

© (2015, 2010) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

• Uses single-subject designs when they want to impact

Who did the

One individual Inspecting graphs of

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